Boys swimming and diving: Rolling Meadows, Keeley have stellar day at sectional
Sam Keeley of Rolling Meadows played football for the Mustangs his first two years in addition to competing on the swim team, but said this year he gave up the gridiron to, "focus exclusively on the pool."
After the junior's performance at Saturday's Glenbrook North boys swimming sectional, it sure seems like a pretty good move.
Keeley qualified for his first trip to the state finals at the Glenbrook North sectional by finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle in the time of 21.21.
The state cut time for advancement in the 50 was 21.79.
"Sam is just a very talented athlete," said Meadows coach Monika Chiappetta. "He did so well out here last year (in sectionals) that he said 'I'm swimming full-time going forward.' "
Keeley will also move on to the state finals meet in the 200 medley relay along with teammates Lukas Slifierz, Jacob Hardt and Vlad Molin, and the four Mustangs also advanced in the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay.
"He really pays attention to detail," added Chiappetta of Keeley. "He sees how his hard work pays off, and that makes him hungrier to get in the water and swim faster. He's so excited to race - he's a racer and just loves to get on the block and go."
Hersey senior Gavin Hill said that his goal in the 100 freestyle Saturday was "to go as fast as I could and just leave it all in the pool today."
Did he ever.
Hill was fastest of all in the 100 free, winning in the time of 46.75 to qualify for next weekend's sate final meet at Evanston High School.
"It was exhilarating," said Hill of the victory, by .05 seconds over second place Elliott Chen of Glenbrook South. "My motivation was to just go out, get my cuts, move on and be good to go."
Glenbrook South won the team competition with a score of 312, while Maine South was second at 243.
Noah Thomas of Hersey qualified Saturday for a trip to state in the Athletes with Disabilities division.
The sophomore will compete in the 50 free, the 100 free, the 200 free and the 100-yard breaststroke and it'll be his second season at the final meet of the year after excelling at the finals as a freshman in 2019.
"I got a lot of experience last season," said Thomas. "It was fun to compete (at last season's state meet at New Trier) and I learned a lot from my teammates. I took that experience and (applied it) to this year, and I'll do the same for the years to come. Now I've just got to go out next week and swim fast."
"Last year was Noah's first year of competitive swimming," said Hersey coach Dick Mortensen, "and he had a ton of success. He's way more confident this year, and you can see what he means to us from the way all the kids were standing and cheering for him. Noah works so hard in practice, he never gives up, and he does the same workouts the varsity kids do. He's definitely an inspirational member of our team."
Back in the varsity division, Prospect excelled as well at Glenbrook North. The Knights qualified swimmers in the 200 medley relay (Kevin Soltys, Tim Hays, Aidan Rodriguez and Andrew Tonkovic), the 200 individual medley (Tim Hays, 1:55.75) and the 100 backstroke (Kevin Soltys, 53.00).
And according to Prospect coach Alfonso Lopez, it was the first event of the day, the 200 medley relay, that gave the Knights the momentum.
"Honestly, it was an amazing day, from our divers in the morning and the 200 medley that set the tone," said Lopez. "Our focus has been great and I couldn't have asked for better."
Hays will also move on in the 100 butterfly in the time of 51.78.
"He is our fastest swimmer in just about every event," added Lopez of Hays, a sophomore. "He's dynamic and can do just about everything."
Other competitors who qualified for state include Maine South's Tommy Doubleday, Logan Nielson, Alex Ostrowski and Daniel Young, who finished second in the 200 medley relay in the time of 1:35.54.
Hawks Young, Ostrowski, Jack Folan and Brendan Forrest all excelled in the 200 free relay to move on, and Young, Billy Myer, Folan and Forrest also qualified in the 400 free relay.
More qualifiers were the Hersey 200 free relay team of Hill, Ethan Marunde, Misha Nikiforov and Spencer Burkhalter; the Huskies' 400 free relay team (same four swimmers); Maine South's Forrest in the 200-freestyle (second at 1:41.35); and Young of the Hawks, who won the 200 IM at 1:51.49.
Also moving on are Doubleday of Maine South in the 50 free; Hill of the Huskies in the 50 free; Ray Ure of Maine West, who won the diving event; Forrest of the Hawks in the 100 butterfly; Doubleday again in the 500 free; and Logan Nielson from Maine South, who was third in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Ethan Marunde of Hersey, a junior captain, will also make the trip to state in the 100 free and the 50 free.
"It felt so good to just come out here and race today," said Marunde. "It's a little individualized at sectionals - at dual meets I'm just focused on the team. Out here it's still somewhat of a team sport but you're also here trying to make the state cuts for yourself. It's fun, but it's a different animal."
Marunde added that he can't wait to get to Evanston for next weekend's finals.
"The Evanston pool - it's the loudest place I've ever been to," said Marunde. '' We like to describe it as a coliseum because it's a four-sided audience arena and it's a six-lane pool. It'll be super crowded and just a lot of fun."